I have so much respect for Alfie, the guy doesn't hang on like Marty or Jaromir he actually listens to his body.

If Stevie listened to his body we wouldn't have the 02 cup or his final 3-4 years. I don't have any less respect for Broduer or Jagr if they want to keep playing the game they love and teams are willing to sign them. Maybe less respect for the GMs who offer them contracts (i.e. Holland and Cleary). Now if players were playing while putting their life in jeopardy that's another story. Fortunately that doesn't seem to happen in this day and age.

I have to wonder, doesn't Holland talk to Babcock and the other members of the team before signing off on s*** like this??? doesn't anyone actually speak up to stop this lunacy??????

Sadly reports are it was Babcock behind bringing back Cleary last year so I doubt he has much of a problem with this. "Clears" is his boy for life. Look I was a huge Cleary fan too, but after the massive tolls on his body he just isn't what he used to be out there. Even Homer was a better skater at 38/39 than Cleary is now.

Awesome stuff, I'm happy to get to see Stevie on skates for maybe the last time. He didn't look too hot out there but it was still Stevie (I believe him when he says he hasn't skated since he retired). Sergei on the other hand still looks NHL caliber. Him and Slava skated circles around people out there. Mickey looked great too!

Anyone's opinion of Toews changed this series? I never knew him to be such a whiny brat. Great leader that guy. On another note reports of Kane maturing seem to be true. I can't remember one problem I had with him all series.

This isn't as gut-wretching defeat as I thought it'd be. It the back of mind I never really thought we had a Cup winning team this year and I doubt most did (at least until we were 3-1 up on Chicago then I guess you can start thinking about it) I think it was a success to make the playoffs this year, the 2nd round was a bonus. The young players made strides this year and I'm excited about our future. I hope we cut the deadweight and make good decisions this off season. We can be a contender as soon as next season. Looking back I think we could be proud of our boys to push the number 1 seed to a game seven and look at this season as a vital building block for the next generation of Red Wing success.

I'm starting to get really excited about this team. If we get Danny D and dare I say Helm back the sky is the limit. I don't know how they're doing it because we've had so many rosters filled with way more talent but they're doing it.

Hard to feel sorry for Chicago, they also got about as easy a goal as you can get before that. That whole play was f****** stupid I could feel it happening as soon as Franzen went down. Just feels weird being on the other end of a call like that.